The Phone Call Catalyst
by Smcfan
Summary: What if instead of Sheldon telling Penny in the Spaghetti Catalyst that Leonard had cried over her, she found out on her own. This I my first fan-fiction. I am a hardcore Lenny fan:D
1. Chapter 1

Penny ascended the stairs to 4A. She was wearing her work uniform but had recently let her hair down. She had a handful of mail in her hand. As usual it was bills, bills, junk-mail, bills. She rolled her eyes in frustration as she reached the fourth floor landing.

Getting closer to 4B, Penny heard muffled commotion inside."Oh for Pete sake Leonard, it's Free Comic Book Day!" Penny felt uncomfortable being anywhere near that apartment after what she did at the bowling alley the day before. As the door opened, she was face to face with an irritated Sheldon. "Penny, please fix things with leonard so we can go to the comic book store. It is a nightmare when he's like this."

With no idea what to say or do, penny just stared into space. So many thoughts were running through her head. What used to be her telling herself the breakup was best for her and leonard, had turned to regret. Penny was jolted back to the present by the distant voice of Leonard. "Sheldon just go...please...Im not in the mood." Howard exited the apartment, passing Sheldon as he gave penny a disapproving stare."come on Sheldon, I'll take you. I have to go to my lab anyway." Forgetting to close the door, Sheldon and Howard descended the stairs as penny looked at the cracked door.

Though reluctant, Penny slowly opened the door. She was extra careful not to make a sound. If leonard heard her and came out shed be speechless. The first thing she noticed was the Xbox left on. Penny felt her stomach turn. Was this a failed attempt on leonards part, to take his mind off things? Looking in the direction of his room, Penny thought that maybe she could talk to him. Maybe they could at least be friends again. Penny made a dismissive shake with her head. There was no point in trying that. After what she did to him, after crushing his heart, there was no way he would ever consider her a friend.

But something told her to try, as she walked into the hallway. Stopping at the door to his room, she heard him talking to someone. Penny pressed her ear to against the door. Again she made sure not to make any noise."No. About the same as last year. Yes I'm still living with him. Yeah the experimental physicist." There was a twenty second pause before he let out a big sigh and continued. " No, we are not dating anymore." Penny closed her eyes, hearing the pain in Leonard's words. " It was my fault, I pushed her away." His voice was beginning to crack. "I just have never met anyone as beautiful and kinda as her. I fell hopelessly in love and thought that she..." Penny's lower lip was quivering, and tears escaped her eyes as she heard leonard falling to pieces. Getting his bearings, he continued."I appreciate you calling Dave, and sorry I'm such a mess." Penny assumed that leonard was off the phone since she hadn't heard anything for at least a minute. At this moment she hated herself. She had shattered the connection to her best friend.


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry for the delay, but i had to really think about this chapter. I give Slightlyoffkey credit for helping me.**

Penny was woken up to sound of rhythmic knocking on her apartment door. Sitting up on her couch, she moaned and rubbed her stiff neck. This was why she never slept on her couch. Penny stood up and walked over to the door.

Opening the door, penny froze at the presence of leonard. He had that big nerdy smile on his face, and he was holding a hotdog. "I thought we could have spaghetti with slices of hotdog for lunch." He passed penny, leaving her with a confused look on her face. Leonard grabbed a plate from the cupboard, a knife, and everything else he needed.

"Leonard, after what I did at the bowling alley yesterday, humiliating you infront of everyone, you want us to eat lunch toge..." "Oh psshh. It's ok." Leonard said with the same grin, just barely cutting her off. Walking over to the counter where leonard was cutting up the hotdog, penny stood and watched him.

After a few moments of deep thought, she spoke in a sad voice. "I'm so sorry I couldn't say it back to you..." Putting the knife down, leonard turned to penny and moved til there were mere inches between them as he cradled her face with his left Hand. He looked into her beautiful green eyes as she gazed back into his. Closing his eyes, he pressed his lips to hers and kissed her passionately. Penny fell into the kiss, breaking from him seconds later. "It's ok Penny. It's in the past."

—

Penny woke up to the sound of pouring ran outside, though her mind pushed it to the side as she recalled the dream she had. While a small part of her wished it were real, it wasn't quite plausible. Leonard did have a history of being the sweetest guy ever, but after breaking his heart like she did. There was no way. She bad a big mistake.

Penny turned to the clock on her nightstand to the left. 1:00 PM. Brushing a few strands of hair from her eyes, she got out of bed and stretched a little. Opening her closet, penny took out a simple red t-shirt and short jean shorts to replace the hello kitty boxers and shirt with the molecule shirt that leonard had left at her apartment the first time they slept together. After taking a long shower and brushing her teeth, she got dressed, put her hair into a simple pony tail, and slipped into her sandals.

Going into the kitchen, penny opened the refrigorator and took out a small bottle of water. She really wanted coffee but had used the last bit the day before her and guys went bowling. Since then she obviously didn't feel good about going across the hall to ask leonard for coffee. Sitting at the table, she took a few sips of water and looked outside. The rain hitting the glass was a sound that penny had always liked. It either put her to sleep or just relaxed her. It definitely helped on a day like this.

She was watching the water trails on the window when a series of knocks on the door made her jump a bit. "Who the hell would be out right now?" Penny thought with her brows bunched up. She set the water bottle on the table, walked over to the door, and opened it without bothering to look in the view hole. She gave an inquisitive look at the girl in front of her. It was Haley, one of the other waitresses from the Cheesecake Factory.

She was a bit different than the other girls. She was kind of nerdy. Not quite as nerdy as the guys across the hall. She was no physicist, but she was always talking to penny and certain other girls at work about the latest scifi movies. Haley was a tad over an inch taller than penny. Her long auburn hair that was a little wet from the rain, fell just past her slender shoulders. She look cheerfully at penny with light brown eyes. "Hi penny how are you?"

Penny replied in way that sounded a lot more like forced cheerfulness than she intended."Hi Haley, it's pouring outside. What are you doing out? Don't you live on the edge of town?" Haley gave a silly laugh. "Yeah I do but yesterday I went straight to my boyfriends after work to watch season one of person of person of interest. I ended up staying the night. He lives in the apartment building just down the street so...not much of a walk. I came by to give you this." She reached into her coat pocket and pulled out a little red velvet bag that penny instantly recognized.

Penny looked at the bag with wide eyes as Haley handed it to her. "Where did you find it? " Haley watched penny fingering the bag. "I have always seen you on your breaks sitting at one of the tables looking at the plastic box in it. You left the bag sitting on the table today." Penny gave a tiny smile. "Actually its a", she walked over to the coffee table infront of the couch, picked up the plastic case laying on it and showed it to Haley,"its a snowflake."

Haley held it nervously, like she was afraid of dropping it."Oh my god Penny, it's beautiful." She gave it back to penny who slipped it into the red velvet bag and laid it on the coffee table. "Where did you get it?" Penny headed back to the table by the window to get her water bottle.

"A guy made it for.." She looked to Haley still standing in the doorway."Sit down Haley." Penny said pointing to the chair opposite the table. Haley walked in, sat her purse on the couch, and took a seat at the table as penny continued."A guy made it for me while he was on a scientific expedition at the North Pole." Looking out the window at the rain, penny didn't notice Haley staring at her with her mouth open. "Wow penny." Haley smiled. "That kinda 1-ups the tray with potstickers in the shape of a heart I got from my boyfriend for valentines day. Penny laughed and took a sip of water.

"So penny.." Haley gave her a half smile. "This guy, is he YOUR boyfriend?" Penny sat the water down and looked at the table. "Was." The smile on Haley's face disappeared."What happened...sorry thats none of my business." Penny looked at her with a smile."No it's ok Haley. The truth is I broke his heart." A single tear ran down her cheek that she didn't bother to wipe away.

"We were in bed together...he told me he loved me...and I broke up with him when we were playing a bowling tournament."

"Oh man" was all Haley could say.

Penny started to cry, as haley touched her arm.


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry for not saying this before, but I appreciate the reviews. It gives me a good feeling knowing people like my writing. I'm thinking there may be one or two more chapters after this.**

After about five minutes of crying, Haley got penny to relax a bit. Penny told her everything; from the day they met in her doorway, to her leaving him at the bowling alley.

"You do realize that Wheaton used you and Leonard to win the game, right?" Haley said raising her eyebrows.

Penny wiped her face off with the back of her hand."Well yeah it's obvious now, but at the time I was feeling so many emotions at once that I just didn't know what to think.I feel really bad about it now, but when Wheaton was telling me about his old girlfriend, it was like he was talking about me and leonard.

Haley gave her a sweet smile."It's pretty obvious that you DO love leonard." She leaned forward in her chair. "I mean when you opened the door I could instantly tell something was weighing on you. But I didn't want to pry so..." Penny smiled back at her and took a sip of her water."I would have been ok with a little prying...considering the way the last few days have been."

A huge crash of thunder made them both jump. Now the rain was coming down hard. Haley was about to say something when her phone started to ring. Looking at the screen, she smiled and answered it. "Hi honey. Ok, I'll head back now." She put the phone back in her coat got up and grabbed her purse off the couch as she turned to penny. " My boyfriend has lunch ready. " your welcome to join us."

"Thanks for the invite," penny said as she put her water bottle back in the frig,"but I don't have much of an appetite right now.

Haley gave an understanding nod as she flipped the hood of her coat over her head. "Ok, well see you tomorrow. We both work the dinner shift, so we can talk more if you want."

"I'd like that. A lot actually." Penny said with a tiny smile.

Haley gave a big grin and left, closing the door behind her.

Penny found herself extremely busy at work the next day. While she did want to take her mind off the last few days, she was starting to get a little stressed. There was the creepy old guy who wouldn't stop eyeballing her. Plus every other booth had a happy couple in it. And maybe it was just penny's imagination, but she could swear that the couple in the far corner was openly mocking her. Her stress level had finally peaked. She stormed over to the booth where the laughing couple was sitting. "You got something you want to say?" Penny said in a venomous tone. "I'm sorry?" The guy said back confused.

"Penny!" She looked directly to the right to see Haley giving her a "what the hell are you doing" look. The man looked at penny like she was crazy. "Sorry I...I'm just having a really stressful day." She said ruefully.

"Uh uh." The guy said as he turned to his girlfriend.

Completely embarrassed, penny walked over to Haley. "Uh not a good idea penny." Haley said with one brow raised. "Aren't getting good tips that way, regardless of your looks." Penny looked at her with narrowed eyes. "Hey, we got a group coming in." Haley said with mild excitement, looking past penny. With a bit of excitement of her own, penny looked at her watch. YES! It was time. Her friends from 4b would be here. Penny spun around making her hair dance behind her. She watched them walk over to their booth and sit. But wait...Leonard. He wasn't with them. Where was he?

She hung her head. "Come on penny, of course he isn't with them. She looked to Haley who looked back at her and headed over to take their order.

"Hey guys!" All their heads turned to her.

"Real smooth penny, that didn't sound over the top at all." She thought to herself.

She looked amongst them with another slightly force smile."The usual today guys?"Everyone said yes but Raj, who whispered into Howard's ear.

Howard turned to Raj."You HAVE to do something about your fear of women." He turned to Penny. "Apoo here would like a grasshopper too." Raj glared at him. "Penny?" Penny turned to Sheldon. "Leonard would like a burger with bacon and lettuce with a side of fries." Penny finished writing their orders. "Are you taking it back to the apartment? "Yes. He said he wouldn't know what to say to the woman he pushed away." Sheldon said matter of factly. Penny just stood there frozen as her eyes started to tear up. "Sheldon, Leonard told you not to tell her that!" Howard said to Sheldon with wide eyes.

Dropping their order on the ground, penny ran off, passing Haley;her face streaked with tears. "If that woman spent less time worrying about feelings, and more time on my order she might actually get it right from time to time." Sheldon said looking at the order on the ground. He looked to the others to find them staring at him"Oh really? You guys wouldn't prefer the place across the street? They don't talk to you at all, just take your order leave and come back with WHAT YOU ORDERED." "Maybe we should," Raj said, breaking his silence."Then maybe we wouldn't have to listen to his bitching." Sheldon shook his head at Raj.

Penny ran out the back door and collapsed against the metal fence across the way. She just stayed there and cried. His heart was ruined. Because of her the greatest guy she ever met had his heart ruined, all because of her stupid fear to say it back to him. He couldn't even stand to see her. After crying for about a minute, Penny got up and dusted herself off. A little fresh air would help. She'd just take an unofficial break.

Walking out to the parking lot she saw a nearby bench and sat down. It was starting to rain a little but she didn't care. After burying her face in her hands for a minute she looked at the car in front of her. When she looked in the backseat, her heart raced. She got up off the bench and looked in the backseat to find leonard with his head down. He was crying.


	4. Chapter 4

**I will say that this chapter took me the most time to write. I went over it about five times. Needless to say all the reviews are making me not want to let people down.**

Penny's heart broke into a million pieces. Leonard looked completely broken, like an abandoned puppy. Slightly slouched, his right arm was propped in the corner of the window sill, with his hand covering his tear soaked eyes. Penny's lower lip and chin started to quiver. It killed her to see him like this. The fact that she had caused it made it that much more unbearable. She was about to open the car door, throw herself onto leonard and beg for his forgiveness, but she was held back. What was holding her back. Was it fear? Fear got her into this mess in the first place. Fear took her best friend away from her. But once again, like always, it won her over. She was about to go back inside when leonard opened his eyes and looked at her in total shock.

"Oh damnnn it!" Leonard hung his head down. He was clearly embarrassed. "You weren't supposed to see me like this..." After battling with herself she slowly opened the door. For a split second she thought about the awkward moment if the door had been locked. Penny sat down on the seat, while trying extremely hard to ignore the uncomfortable feeling in her stomach.

A few seconds passed before leonard collected himself and managed to sit up and look in her direction. Penny looked right back at him not knowing what she could or should say. She had hurt him so badly and was terrified of saying something wrong. "I'm so sorry Penny..I." "You have nothing to be sorry about." Penny jumped in without even thinking."I'm the one who should apologize."

She ran several scenario's in her head, all of which lead to bad results. But has he couldn't bear to hear him blame himself, so her instinct took over.

Wiping away tears she looked into Leonard's own tear soaked eyes hidden behind glasses. "I thought that it was the best thing for both of us if I broke things off." Penny looked passed him."All I ended up doing was leaving both of us miserable. But when I ran out of the bowling alley, I reached a point of no return. I couldn't bare to face you the rest of the day, not after breaking up with you in front of everybody. And that night, laying in bed, my mind replayed the events of the day. The biggest thing that bothered me was snapping at you. I was being so selfish."As hard as she tried, penny could not hold the tears in.

"Penny...when you ran out of the bowling alley, I was devastated. I kept hoping it was a nightmare that I would eventually wake up from. But the next day, I received a call from my older David. He just wanted to see how I was doing. You know, check in on his little brother. When I mentioned us, it hit me. Like I had said in the laundry room. "I was ahead of you in the relationship. I just couldn't understand that you weren't in the same place as I was. I didn't even bother to look at it from your perspective. I ended up being such a douche about it that you had no choice but to..." "Leonard Wheaton was the reason I broke up with you." Penny said interrupting him. She saw a bewildered look on Leonard's face.

" He told me about how he had a girlfriend who was stringing him along after not being able to say she loved him. I couldn't bare to do that to you. Of course I couldn't get it through my thick head that he most likely was making it up to affect the outcome of the game." Leonard had a mixture of anger and shock on his face when penny scooted close to him till there was barely an inch between them. She could tell he was getting a little uncomfortable."I think from the day you left for the North Pole, I was in love with you. But I let fear get in the way. Fear of getting hurt. Fear of loosing my best friend. Her lips her nearly touching his when she closed her eyes and spoke in almost a whisper."Fear of loosing the sweetest, most caring man I've ever met."

Penny closed the distance between them and gave him the most passionate kiss she had ever given to any guy. Leonard reciprocated the kiss as she cradled his face with her left hand. Using her other hand, she pushed him back til he was laying against the door.

Jumping a bit at the coldness of the window against his neck, Leonard repositioned himself so he was laying flat on the seat. Penny followed suit as she laid on top of him and continued to kiss him. Leonard put his arms around her waist as he returned her passion, feeling her hands running through his hair.

After about five minutes of intense kissing, there was a knock on the window that nearly made penny hit the top of the car. "The freaking hell?! She looked behind her while staying on leonard to see a blurry figure standing behind the rain drenched glass. A hand wiped a big circle. "Ahhhh how cute." Haley said with a big smirk on her face as she looked through the window. Penny rolled her eyes and gave Haley a little smile that turned to a frown as five strangers looked in the window at once. "That girls lovely, lucky guy." Penny turned her eyes to the british speaking guy right next to Haley. Penny turned back around to leonard still laying under her. " Alright, shows over. Everyone beat it. Leave the lovebirds be." Haley called out raising her right arm up.

She opened the car door and looked at the newly rejoined couple. "Lucky for you Penny, I managed to get you the rest of the night off." Haley said with a that sweet smile of hers. Returning to smile, Penny crawled off of Leonard, and out of the car, hearing giggles from onlookers.

"Well. Leonard this spry thing is my friend Haley. Haley this is Leonard, the reason I haven't left Pasadena." Penny said, ignoring the people looking at them. Haley turned to Leonard with that same smile."I've heard a lot about you." Leonard looked at Penny with a brow raised. She mouth the words "nothing bad" and leaning to give him a slow short kiss on the lips. Leonard and Haley exchanged a bit of small talk before the three of them headed inside.

There was hardly anybody inside now. Just the guys and the couple that penny had made an idiot of herself to. "This place is clearly trying to KILL me!" Sheldon exclaimed staring at his burger."I can see bits of old burnt food on the meat. The grill was obviously not properly cleaned."

"Sir, I can get you another one. FRESH. No charge."The manager said,looking like he was on the verge of throwing sheldon out."What PASSES as fresh in this place." Sheldon mumbled under his breath. "Mind if we just walk home? I'm really not in the mood for this." Leonard asked Penny as they stood in the doorway. "Well, as tempting as it might be to place bets on how long it will take for sheldon to get thrown out of here." She extended her right hand out and laced her fingers with his."I could go for a little walk." Leonard walked over to the guys table, told Howard and Raj they were gonna walk home and headed out the front door with Penny.

"I'm starting to regret not eat with the guys...kinda hungry." Leonard stated as he opened to apartment building door for Penny. As soon as he walked inside,Penny closed the door behind them and threw her arms around him. She closed her eyes, and gave him a long, wet kiss. Leonard smiled into the kiss as he wrapped his arms around her lower waist. They continued to embrace each other, til Penny reluctantly ended the kiss. "Well" Leonard said with raised eyebrows."I don't need to eat now. I think I ate your tongue." He made a nerdy laugh and Penny responded with a wide smile. After exchanging laughs, they reached the fourth floor landing as Leonard pulled his keys out of his coat pocket. "I'm off tomorrow. Why don't we spend the whole day together, get away from everyone and everything." Penny walked over to him and cradled her hands around his face as she gave him a slow, passionate kiss. She broke away and smiled sweetly to him."I'd love that. Leonard smiled back and proceed through his apartment door as she headed for hers, wearing a smile she that wouldn't go away.

9 WEEKS LATER

Leonard opened his refrigerator and took out a bottle of water. Closing the door he walked over to his desk and turned on his laptop. Opening his email application he read the newest email. His eyes went wide.

"Oh boy..."


	5. Chapter 5

**Sorry for the long wait. This was the hardest chapter for me to do. I always am trying to ask myself"would Leonard really say this and would Penny really do this." Anyway I hope you like this chapter. again i have Slightlyoffkey to thank for helping me make thinks a bit clearer.**

Just as Leonard closed his laptop, Penny came out to get a cup of coffee. She was wearing a plain white t-shirt, with bright orange sweat pants. Leonard was in a grey t-shirt with Empire Strikes Back boxers."Your up early." She said cheerfully, or as cheerfully as she could be at 7:00 am. Taking out a medium sized mug, Penny filled it half way with coffee.

Still sitting at his desk, Leonard rubbed his face with both hands."Yeah I couldn't sleep. "This project I've been working on at work is really wearing me down. "I'm using a helium neon laser to determine the concentration of the effluent reactants." He walked over to the counter where Penny was, grabbed a mug from the cupboard and poured some coffee."I had to squeeze into the schedule for use of the laser." He took a long sip."Couldn't have gotten a worse time slot." "Aww I'm sorry sweetie." Penny said with pouty look on her face."Well hey, you have a spunky Nebraskan girl waiting for you at the end of the day."She finished with a big smile. Leonard looked at her with a smirk."That's the ONLY thing waiting for me." He thought for a second then with a panicked look he put up one of his hands in defense."Sor...sorry...that came out wrong." Letting out a giggle, Penny gave him a quick kiss."I know what you meant."

Something else was bothering him. There was an uneasiness about him. It reminded her of when got back from the date with the lady who offered to give his science department money. Penny was about to say something when he started. "I got an email earlier that I'm having trouble with. She had a curious look on her face as she took a sip of coffee. She kinda smiled inside. She always thought he looked really cute when he had that troubled look on his face, that look of innocence that drove her wild. "Trisha Oberdine," Penny noticed a strained look in his eyes as he said the name.

"She dated the star quarterback when I was in high school, Tommy Emmerson. "Leonard turned to Penny while in deep thought. "I never really KNEW her that well. I remember being in gym class when her friends laughed and giggled at me, that's it,."Penny could tell it was hard for him to talk about this, so she gently touched her hand to his. "I knew her boyfriend though. I hated him. There were days when he completely humiliated me.

"What was the email about?" Penny asked, hoping she wasn't interrupting. "she said that recent events in her life drove her to track me down.I don't know what to think. I haven't seen her since high school." He furrowed his brow."What interest would she have in me. Penny gave him a half smile."maybe she got your email by mistake...you know...one hell of a coincidence."No because she said that she wants to meet me today. "Penny's eyes grew wide."Oh..." Leonard gave her a smile, "at the Cheesecake Factory." Her jaw dropped. "Your kidding."

"Well I guess that means I'll have you there if it all goes bad."Leonard laughed.

Leonard finished his coffee and put the mug in the sink."So whatcha gonna do? You gonna meet her?" Penny asked as she finished her coffee.

"Yeah...I mean whats the harm. I haven't seen her in years, maybe she's a physicist too." He said the last part with a laugh." Im sure she just wants to talk.

"I'm gonna take a shower." He looked at her, and after a few seconds gave her a wicked smile that she reflected back to him." I'd loved to sweetie but I have to hurry up for work. Gotta cover for two people today. I'll be sure to climb Mt. Hofstadter tonight." She went over to him and gave him a quick kiss." Leonard kissed her back, then went to the shower as she went to her apartment to get ready for work.

Business at the Cheesecake Factory was slower than usual. Penny spent more time chatting up Haley than serving customers. But as luck would have it, one of the few she had was a total jerk. He complained about everything, no matter what she did for him. She had to use every bit of self control to keep herself from sending him to the floor with a broken nose.

Heading back to the kitchen, Penny exhaled loudly. Haley followed shortly after with an order she had just taken."I'm guessing you got to take Mr. Happy's order." She said with a playful laugh. Penny gave her a twisted look. "If the manager wasn't here, I'd put that guy in the hospital."

"Psh, I'd need three hands to count how many assholes I've dealt with this month alone."Haley said with a cocked brow. Penny thought to herself. "This was a place for people to relax. What happened to the relaxing part."

A few hours passed and they still only had a few couples come in. After Penny and Haley took their orders and gave them to the cooks, Penny went ahead and wiped down a few tables since the bus boy decided to blow it off and leave with his girlfriend.

About five minutes later Penny heard the door open as a large group of guys, probably college freshmen, walked in. They were wearing slightly dirty baseball jerseys, most likely celebrating a recent victory. The two waitresses walked over to take their orders, while doing their best to ignore the advances of some of them. Penny had to deal with the most, as a few kept asking her to add her phone number to their order. Penny wasn't aware of it, but the same guy watched her butt as she walked back to the kitchen, though she could just imagine.

"Ughh!" Penny groaned loudly as Haley entered the kitchen."If it's not jerks, it's college freshmen. They both looked at each other."And the difference is?" Haley asked. They laughed in unison.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, the guys left. But not without a few comments that made Penny roll her eyes. Her and Haley proceeded to wipe down the tables."We'll, on the positive side, these are the best tips I've gotten all night." Penny looked at her wad of tips."Yeah it definitely pays to be cute."she gave Haley a wide grin.

One hour left till closing, the door opened. "If this is another jerk I quit." Haley said only half joking. "Penny left the kitchen to see a beautiful woman, looking to be in her early thirties. She had long curly chocolate brown hair that fell to her slender shoulders. She was wearing a silk, grey shirt, and a short denim skirt. She would have been a few inches shorter than Penny were it not for her two inch buttoned heels.

Taking a seat at one of the tables by the window, the woman sat her purse down next to her. She picked up the menu in front of her and looked at it. After a couple minutes, Penny walked over to her and gave her a simple smile when they made eye contact."Are you ready to order?"

"Could I just have a cup of coffee with one cube of sugar and things of cream?" The woman said returning the smile."I'll get that right out to you, is it just you tonight?" Penny asked as she jotted down the small order."Actually I'm kind of expecting someone shortly. I guess you could call it a sort of blind date." The woman gave her a tender smile."I'll be right back with your coffee." Penny said as she turned around with bulging eyes.

Penny walked back to the kitchen and planted her arms on the table. "Ok Penny just chill out. It's probably not even the same woman. And if it is, Leonard would never cheat on me."

"Penny? You ok?" Haley was sweeping up by the sinks when she saw Penny come in the kitchen looking distressed." Haley walked over to her and placed her hand on Penny's back, giving her a concerned look. "That woman out there."Haley to a quick look out the kitchen to the woman at the far table. " I think she's meeting Leonard to discuss something." She turned sharply to Haley with moist eyes."She said it was kind of a blind date. I don't know what to th..."

"Penny listen to me. First of all there are these things called jokes. Second of all, I have known Leonard for almost a year now. After spending just a few days with you and the guys while you had take out, it was easy for me to see how madly in love with you Leonard is. I mean.."Haley gave a short laugh,"he lights up like a Christmas Tree when you walk in. Also, unlike Sheldon, he always seems to be excited to explain things to you when he's talking with the guys."

Penny stood in the doorway and looked at the woman again."hasn't leonard said anything to you about it?" Haley asked in a slightly elevated tone. Penny replied after a few seconds."He told me this morning that he got an email from a girl that went to his high school. He said he was having trouble with it." Haley hesitated for a moment."Penny?" Penny slowly turned her head to her."Do you trust him?" Penny nodded."Then just relax." Haley continued with a twinge of frustration in her voice."But what if she hits on him, i mean look at her, and she's obviously his age." "Penny your being rediculous," Haley started to laugh a bit,"just about an hour left and then you can break another bed with your boyfriend."Penny gave her a narrow look before getting a cup of coffee for her waiting customer.

She brought the woman her coffee and laid the bill on the table. "Enjoy." Penny said with a forced smile. The woman was busy checking messages on her phone and didn't reply. As penny walked away from the table, the front door opened and in walked Leonard.

They smiled warmly to each other as Leonard looked around for the person he came to see. Penny pointed out the woman at the window with a "I'm guessing thats her" look on her face. He slowly walked over to the woman with a little hesitation. Penny laughed a little inside. It reminded her of the first time Leonard asked her out. "Uh..Trisha? Trisha Oberdine? Trisha turned to him and a huge smile formed on her face."Leonard! HI!...you probably don't remember me...but...we both went to Bergenfield High School. Class of 95?" Trisha finished as Leonard sat across from her. "Well..." He began, still nervous,"I remember the girls you hung out with." He looked away slightly,"and your boyfriend...who introduced me to PANTSING." Trisha had a repentant look on her face. "Yeah Tommy was probably the biggest mistake I made in high school.

Penny had been hiding behind a corner about ten feet behind leonard, so she had heard everything. "He was horrible to everyone who wasn't popular or good at sports, and I kept dating him simply because he was hot." Trisha said with revulsion in her eyes. "Yeah I think I got the brunt of that." Leonard said with a mild laugh. Hearing this, a sympathetic smile formed on Penny's face. Unconsciously playing with her menu with her left hand, Trisha tucked her hair behind her ear with her right." I remember all too well what he did to you. I have a niece who is a freshman at the same high school. Now she doesn't really get picked on, but has told me some of the things that have been done. It made me think of you." It was at this point that Trisha began to tear up.

"I should have done something." Trisha was barely managing to speak between sobs."I just followed That jerk around like a little PUPPY!" She said the last word with so much venom that she took both Leonard and Penny by surprise. Trisha closed her eyes and continued to cry as she touched Leonard's hand."I am so sorry..."

Seeing this, Penny felt a shock of heat rush through her body. Turning to her right, she noticed a small tub filled with water on a table near the windowsill. It was used to water the large plant sitting next to the hallway leading to the restrooms. She grabbed it, rounded the corner and walked over to them. With split second thinking, Penny faked tripping, and tossed the gallon of water right onto Trisha.

**Yeah just so you know, I was very close to having the email be about the North Sea Trip, but I've noticed a lot of fics with that and I decided to go with something more original.(Not saying they aren't food fics but you know..)Let me tell you, it wasn't easy to do.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Ok, I want to apologize for the long wait. I have had an extremely stressful few weeks. FINALLY I have gotten this chapter down. Slightlyoffkey once again has helped me out. **

"Jeez Penny." Leonard Helped her off the floor. "You ok?" She slowly got herself up exaggerating a small groan, with Leonard aiding her a bit. "Yeah I'm ok." Penny looked at Trisha, who was emptying out the napkin dispenser. Her shirt was soaking wet."Sorry...I...want me to get you some towels?""Don't worry about it. The napkins will be enough. I was at the cleaners before I got here so.. I have another shirt I can put on." Trisha said as she dabbed her shirt. "It was an accident." Right. Penny felt like her face was beet red.

She picked up the bucket laying on the floor as Leonard used the rest of the napkins to wipe off the table. Leonard and Penny both looked towards Trisha as her phone started going off. She looked at it and made a riled snort. "Leonard?" Trisha gave him an awkward smile as she got up and grabbed her purse."I'm am REALLY sorry but I gotta cut this short..have an appointment to make. Lets meet again sometime."

"Wait a minute." Leonard stopped her from leaving. She turned and gave him a questioning look."This is where I live."

Damn it Leonard. Penny looked at the ground as he got a pen out of his pocket at wrote something down on a napkin. He gave it to Trisha with a smile. "Really? My brother lives in 3A." She gave a short laugh."Small world huh?" Leonard smiled as she gracefully left.

"Your smell is intoxicating." Penny said with an alluring smile as her and Leonard laid in his bed facing one another. She had always loved how he smelled, but there was something about it today. Something that made her want to tear his clothes off.

Trisha had sent Leonard a text that she wouldn't be able to make it until the next day.

"It's Chanel Allure," he said the last part in an overly deep voice,"FOR MEN." Penny giggled, looking at his characteristic nerdy smile. They laid there, staring into each others eyes for a minute until a slightly serious look appeared on Leonard's face.  
"Penny why did you pretend to trip and dump water on Trisha?" Leonard looked at her with furrowed brows. Her smile disappeared and her mouth hung open."Oh my god...he knew? But he acted surprised and helped her up." She was avoiding his eyes."He must have been trying to avoid a scene." Still avoiding eye contact, Penny closed her eyes as tears came."Hey..." Leonard said calmly and put his forefingers to her chin, gently turning her to face him. She gazed into his eyes as he looked into hers. His fingers left her chin and slowly caressed her tear stained cheek.

"She's...gorgeous...Leonard." Penny said with a cracking voice. "Penny. Leonard laughed."Have you looked in the mirror lately?"

"But she's your age and she's.."

"Penny, didn't you learn anything last month?" He shifted closer to her, his hand leaving her face and running through her hair." "I've been in love with you for a while now." Leonard gave her a soft smile as he leaned in, and gave her a gentle kiss that grew with passion. Drinking in the smell of his cologne, Penny smiled inside. Leonard had gotten a little more...assertive...in the last eight weeks. Sure she did find it nice at times to protect her little nerd from the Kurt's of the world, but seeing him being a "man" added some spice. That's not to say that self concious guy who first introduced himself didn't show up again on occasion.

It was 5:00am in 4a. Penny's bra and panties were strewn on her side of the room, while Leonard's t-shirt, socks, and boxers were thrown on his side. Huddled up together, Penny's left arm was around his waist and she had her head nuzzled up under his.

Penny was awakened by Leonard's phone buzzing on his nightstand."I have got to change that." He said in a groan as he reached his left arm over and picking up his phone to stop the vibrating. Covering herself up with the bed sheet, Penny rubbed her eyes as Leonard read the text on his phone."looks like Trisha will be here in about an hour."  
"Great," Penny thought to herself.  
Leonard quickly turned to her like a light flipped on in his head. "By the way there is a new burger joint that just opened down the road from the university. I thought we'd check it out today."  
"Oh, The Three Floyd's?" Penny said with wide eyes and a smile. "Haley and her fiancé went there the other day. She said its really good."  
"So it's a date then." Leonard said with a dorky smile. Penny gave him a big smile as she leaned over and gave him a passionate kiss.

After taking a a shower together, which sheldon hated since penny always left the tub messy, they got dressed and had coffee together.

"Leonard I was thinking.."  
A quick knock on the door cut penny off. Leonard gave her look before opening the door.  
Trisha stood before him with a smile showing her almost too perfect white teeth. She was wearing a tight, low-cut, short denim dress with a wide leather belt. Wearing the same two inch heels, she had her hair in a simple ponytail, exposing her lightly tanned neck and shoulders.

"Alright lady...you are REALLY starting to piss me off." Penny thought to herself with glaring eyes and clenched teeth. "Great, her boobs are bigger than mine too. what's next, is she an erotic massage therapist too?" She thought with a frown.

Leonard stepped aside holding the door open as he gave Trisha a friendly smile."Come on in. Make yourself comfortable." He motioned towards the living room. Trisha smiled, walking past him as she touched his shoulder with her hand before taking a seat on Sheldon's side of the couch.  
"Oh I'm sorry Trisha you can't sit there." Penny said with a big smile inside as she sat her coffer down.  
Trisha turned to her with a curious look."Why not?" She said with such a sweet voice that Penny wanted to hurl. She went over the whole thing with Trisha thinking how proud of her sheldon would be.

Leonard looked at Penny then to Trisha. "It's fine Trisha, you can sit there." Penny was going to need something a lot stronger than coffee. She sat her coffee mug into the sink and passed Trisha, stopping at Leonard still by the open door.

"Um sweetie, I'm gonna to go to my apartment for a minute." Before he could respond she leaned in and gave him an extremely passionate kiss, sliding her tongue into his mouth. After a few seconds, Penny broke the kiss, leaving a stunned look on Leonard's face. She smiled at Trisha and left with a slight grace to her step.

Penny closed the door to 4A with a wide smile on her face. "That should tell her who he belongs to." She got to the kitchen in her apartment, opened a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon and began to rethink her her previous actions. Had she gone a bit overboard? Hell no! That skimpy dress was clearly a move on Leonard.

Holding a half empty bottle of Cabernet, Penny walked into her dimly light bedroom and opened her closet. " I've got something in here that will make that dress look tame.


	7. Chapter 7

**Again a big thanks to Slightlyoffkey for "debugging" fic story. I think I had the most fun writing this chapter.**

"Well, lets see..." Penny was studying three outfits she had hanging in her closet. She took one off its hook and looked at it. It was the dress she wore when that tall blonde girl moved into the building a few years ago. Thank god she didn't stay very long. She had totally been using her feminine charms to get the guys to do things for her. What Penny still didn't understand was what they saw in that new girl. She really wasn't THAT attractive. She actually looked a bit anorexic. She eventually left about six months later. According to Howard, she moved in with some film director in LA...good riddance.

Penny put the dress back as it wasn't nearly as enticing and she wanted. Now the third one, she had never worn this one before. Her boyfriend, sure lets call him that, bought it for her on her seventeenth birthday. He told her she would look sexy as hell in it. She never wore it, no matter how much he begged. But something made her hold onto it.

"This one is perfect." She thought with a big smile as she took it off the hook and removed the plastic hanger. After about a minute of adjusting it to her figure, Penny got the outfit on. Looking in the mirror on her door she gave a silly giggle. "Oh Leonard."

Taking out her phone, Penny texted Leonard to come get her when lunch got there as he had told her he had ordered them Chinese. About twenty minutes later there was a knock on her door as she opened it to see Leonard with a smile that grew into a surprised glare. Staring at her for a while, he admired her skintight white catsuit, the silver zipper pulled down just below her chest revealing cleavage and a pink push-up bra. "Uh..ok..I did NOT know know you had that outfit." He was still staring at her.

"Actually I forgot I had it, I've had it for years." Her big smile just made her look that much more incredible.

She made the sexiest pose she could think of then leaned against her door frame."So are we going to keep drooling or go eat?" Penny was on the verge of laughing.

"RIGHT! The food. Chinese. Lunch," leonard said in a nervous voice as Penny followed him to his apartment. She giggle inside. He was so adorable when he was flustered, especially when she was causing it. She forgot how easy it was to get him excited. Leonard opened the door to his apartment as Penny followed through and Leonard shut it behind her.

Leonard walked over to the coffee table and grabbed one of the stirafoam containers, handing it to Trisha. "Egg-roll and orange chicken." Trisha took it with a wide smile. "Sweet and sour chicken with rice," he said handing the next one to Penny.

"Thanks sweetie, your service is amazing."

Leonard gave her a wide smile before being pulled down to receive a deep kiss.

"Interesting outfit Penny." Trisha said with a mouthful of chicken and a tiny hint of sarcasm.

Penny let go of Leonard to give him a chance to eat and looked to Trisha."Well," she looked back to Leonard then to Trisha again,"I'm an actress. Currently a waitress at the Cheesecake Factory but an actress none the less." She gave a little laugh. " I may have to wear this outfit someday so why not get used to it."

"That why its unzipped clear to your stomach?" Trisha thought.

Penny could tell she wasn't buying it but she didn't care all that much. She felt that she had Leonard's attention from her and that made her feel somewhat at ease.

After a few minutes of small talk between the girls, Leonard's phone went off. "Oh for god's sake Sheldon", he said looking at the text. "I'll have to put my food in the frig, Sheldon did something to piss everyone off so he has nobody to pick him up from work."

"I'll put it in a container for you." Penny got up before being stopped by Leonard. "Don't worry about it, I'll do it." He gave her a big smile."Wouldn't want you to move too fast and pop out of that outfit."

"Leonard..." Penny said rolling her eyes."

Leonard put his food in a container and set it in the refrigerator before kissing Penny, taking his keys out of the bowl and leaving.

"Penny." Penny swallowed a bite of chicken and looked at Trisha. She was looking at Penny's outfit."I want you to know that you don't have to worry about me." Frozen stiff, Penny just stared at her, not knowing what to say and looked away from her.

Trisha cracked a tiny smile."From the moment I came in here today I could see that look in your eyes. It's what we do when we are afraid of losing the man we love to someone else. She smiled again."I'll be honest I did kind of have a thing for him in high school." She pushed a strand of chocolate brown hair out of her eyes. "But that was then and this is now. I know that you are madly in love with him and he you."

Penny raised her head up to look at Trisha. Trisha could see a tear running down her face."He told me about the email, and when I saw you meeting him at the Cheesecake Factory I didn't know what..."

"I can imagine...I can image what you thought. But it couldn't have been further from the truth.

The door opened and Howard walked in holding a comic in his hand. "Is Leonard in herroly crap!" He just stared at Penny in her white catsuit, wiping her eyes. "Haahaaahaaww..." Penny could see the drool on his mouth."Howard Leonard isn't here, he went to go pick up sheldon." There was a whiny tone to her voice.

"The hell with LEONARD. Penny you look... .god" he wobbled back a bit before collapsing on the floor. Trisha looked at the fainted guy on the floor with a calked brow."

Though he still had his moments like this, Penny had started to take a liking to Howard. There had been many more times recently when the facade of bravado had peeled back to reveal a real person.

"Friend of Leonard's I assume." Trisha said in a mixture of a statement and a question as she finished her chicken."Penny ate the last bite of her chicken and headed for the door."He's part of his pose'."They gave each other a soft smile as Trisha tossed her empty container in the trash and walked over to Penny who was still by the door. She laid her hand gently on Penny's shoulder."I'm glad we managed to touch base today."

"Yeah...I..I'm sorry I was so overbearing with Leonard."Penny said sheepishly."It's just that, ever since I met him three years go he's..."Penny looked at Trisha with wide eyes."I never knew how great a guy could be till I met him."Trisha tilted her head a bit."Oh I believe it. My husband is one of em." Penny was taken aback.

"Husband?"

"Yeah." Trisha gave a short laugh."again like I said, you have nothing to worry about."

They both laughed. Trisha moved in and gave Penny a hug that was reciprocated. Penny's phone buzzed suddenly. "Well, Leonard picked up his roommate but has to run some errands for him. He won't be back for at least a couple of hours. "Well, I actually have a few errands of my own. Could you tell Leonard thanks for the food?"

"Of course." Penny said while pressing home on her phone.

"Trisha gave Penny wide cheerful eyes. "Hey, we should get together like this again sometime. I live near Raymond Hill."

"Oh Leonard's birthday is next Monday. You should totally come." Penny said clapping her hands together. You can meet the rest of the group."

A month later

"Ahh!"

"Getting a little shut eye?" The manager of the Cheesecake Factory asked with a heartfelt laugh after waking up Penny. It had been an incredibly slow day today. Penny had been sitting down at the table a couple had been eating at. She dosed off in an instant and had been asleep for almost an hour.

"I'm sorry Mr. Martinelli it won't happen again I just sat down for a minute and passed out please don't fire me i really need this job I ju.."

"Honey..hey calm down. We've been pretty dead today. Don't worry about it." Martinelli crouched down to her level and put his arm around her as he gave her a smile. "You've seemed rather stressed lately." He leaned in with a look of concern."everything ok?"

Penny let out a long sigh and looked ahead."I'm just really behind on bills right now. The landlord shut off everything in my apartment so it's colder than hell in there now." She looked at him with pained eyes. "Now you know why I've been jumping every time someone can't make their shift."

"Huh. Well it looks like your day is about to get brighter."

Penny furrowed her brows."what do you...?"

handed her a letter. She read it and her eyes grew wide. He gave her a big smile."With such compliments about your service, I'd say that earns you a sizable raise." Penny's mouth dropped and she just sat in her seat, not knowing what to do or say. "How does a raise of three dollars sound?" Penny squealed and bounced in her seat. After being offered the rest of the night off, she jumped out of her seat and darted out the door. She nearly ran a couple high school boys over as she headed to her car to head home.

Leonard had just reached the fourth floor landing when he heard Penny yelling."Leonard!"He turned around to see an extremely excited Penny bouncing up and down before him."I got a raise Leonard! I actually got a raise!" She hadn't felt this good since they made out in his car a few months back. "That's incredible Penny! Leonard had a huge smile on his face. Penny looked back down at the letter that her boss had given her and something caught her eye that got every bit of her attention. Right at the top corner of the letter was the logo for Cal Tech. "Leonard?" Penny looked up to him with a stunned look showing on her face."Did you...do this?" Leonard gave her a little smile and a nod."You've been so stressed out lately and I've noticed you working so hard at your job."

A stray tear rolled down her cheek as her lip started to quiver."Leonard..." She ran into his arms and put her arms around his neck, engulfing him in a hug. Leonard put one arm around her lower waist and the other behind her head as he stroked her hair. "I just can't stand to see you upset." He said quietly. Penny pulled away a tad to look into his eyes. Leonard gave her a smile as she moved in and gave him a slow, deeply passionate kiss that lasted for several minutes. Penny broke the kiss and grabbed his hand as she dragged him into her apartment and slammed the door.

"Wow. Somebody is in a good mood today." Haley said looking at Penny with a crooked smile."You're practically glowing girl."

"I gotta tell ya Haley, anymore Leonard is a monster in bed." Penny responded wiggling her a tongue a bit. "So that's why you seem to be lighting up today." Haley said as she grabbed a note pad to take orders.

"Well that and...I GOT A RAISE!" Penny screamed. The customers stared at her but she didn't care. "You too huh? Haley said with raised brows. "Well at least they did something all for us and terrible tippers."

They both laughed and went out to take orders.

**thanks for all the reviews. It makes me happy to know you enjoyed reading my story. Im thinking of either doing this same story again from Leonard's POV or something else entirely. **


	8. Chapter 8

**This chapter starts the story over from Leonard's POV. I know it's a little short. Again I love all the reviews I've gotten. And again, big thanks to Slightlyoffkey.**

"Leonard stop moping and.."

"Sheldon I'm not going to the comic books store." Leonard said laying on his side in bed.

"Oh for Pete sakes Leonard it's Free Comic Book Day!" Sheldon said raising his voice. Leonard had been laying in bed since he had gotten home from the bowling alley the night before. He simply couldn't find a reason to get out of bed. He tried to read his favorite Superman issues, but it just wasn't doing anything for him. He would start reading a page and then thoughts of Penny would bleed through.

"I'm such an idiot. Everything was going great between us and I had to ruin it by trying to force her to say she loves me. What the hell was my problem? If she wasn't ready, she wasn't ready." Leonard thought to himself as he buried his head with his pillow, half wishing someone would come over and smother him to death with it.

"Penny, please fix things with Leonard so we can go to the comic book store. He is a nightmare when he is like this."

"Always so supportive." Leonard thought As he rolled his eyes. "Sheldon just go...please...Im not in the mood."

"Wait a minute." Leonard sat up in his bed"is Penny here?"his eyes bulged."What would I say if she came in here?" The buzzing of his phone got his attention. He saw the name David Eisman, picked up the phone and tapped answer.

"Hello?"

"Hi Leonard, your sisters at a conference and I just wanted to see how you were doing. Anything new happening with your work?"

"No, about the same as last year." That sounded a little more mopey than Leonard had intended.

"You still living with that guy?"

"Yes I'm still living with him. Yeah the experimental Physicist."Leonard was anticipating that one.

"You know Kathy and I were eating at this new deli downtown when we saw a young couple sitting by us. It got me thinking about you."

Leonard closed his eyes. THIS was not an easy topic. "How are things going with the pretty blonde, you two still dating? I know how crazy you are about her." He took his ear off the phone hearing his door creak. Then letting out a big sigh, he responded."No, we are not dating anymore." Leonard really didn't want to talk about this but his brother-in-law had always been there for him and he considered David more family to him than his sister.

"It was my fault."

"Leonard.."

"I pushed her away."

"Listen to me.."

"I just have never met anyone as beautiful and kind as her."

"Leonard..."

"I feel hopelessly in love and thought that she.."

Great. He was falling apart.

"Leonard I think...no I know that you belong together. When I met you guys at the park I could see the love for you in her eyes."

Leonard could find any words to respond. All that came out were tears.

There was a five second pause then David spoke. "Leonard I'm really sorry but I have to take a business call. Listen if you ever need to talk, don't hesitate to call. "After a second there was a click and then silence. Leonard put his phone on the table and laid back down on the bed. After a bit of thought, he went to sleep.

Leonard woke up to the sound of pouring rain. Storms like this always reminded him of that terrible night at his high school prom. Getting ditched by his date out in the pouring rain...fun times.

He looked at the clock on the table to the right of his bed and his eyes grew wide."12:30pm? Oh my god." Leonard didn't have to work today but this was way too late for him. He jumped out of bed and grabbed the clothes he would wear as he hopped into the shower. After about a half hour of getting ready for the day, Leonard fixed a pot of coffee. He didnt usually drink it this late, but with the last few days...he needed it.

Sipping his coffee, Leonard noticed a framed picture in the corner under the cupboard. The moment frozen in the photo brought a memory back to him that brought about a slight smile. It was taken at the Cheesecake Factory. Penny had the day off as she was wearing that light blue dress that Leonard loved. She had such a big smile on her face. The smile faded from Leonard's face. "Things were just about perfect between us back then." After finishing his coffee, Leonard opened the door to the apartment and, for no apparent reason, shut it very quietly. Maybe he didn't want to chance it that Penny might hear him and come out to talk.

He gave Penny's apartment a glance before heading down the stairs to get the mail. He was deep in thought when he got to the second floor landing, and bumped into a woman who was coming up the stairs. "Sorry about that." Leonard said with a slight laugh."I was lost in thought. He kneeled down to pick up the his mailbox key he dropped when he noticed what she had dropped."Maybe it's fate." The woman replied with a giggle as she bent down to pick up the red velvet bag. "I doubt that." Leonard smiled at her.

"What is she doing with the bag for Penny's snowflake?" Leonard thought to himself.

The woman laughed again."Me too, I have a boyfriend." She continued upstairs as Leonard made his way to the first floor. Maybe it was just a coincidence."Your over thinking again." He cleared his head and got his mail on the first floor. A few minutes later, Howard barged through the door. "I swear I'm gonna kill em." Leonard looked to him with bunched brows. "I've never been so embarrassed. He kept hounding me to stop for ice cream, and when we got there he insisted on being allowed in back to make sure they used clean scoops to the dip the ice cream."

Sheldon came through the front door happily lapping on a double dip Lemon waffle cone like a little child. He stopped between Howard and Leonard and looked to Howard with a simple smile. "Howard. You may be...at best...a sub par engineer, but you have good taste in ice cream parlors." As sheldon continued up the stairs, Howard glared at him.

"Coming from him, that's a really good compliment." Leonard said with a tiny laugh.


	9. Chapter 9

**One more day til the premiere!**

It had been two days since he had seen or heard anything from Penny. The first day after the breakup, when the guys had take-out, she was nowhere to be seen. Sheldon made his usual condescending remarks and the others weren't much help either."It's the end of the weekend. I'm sure Penny found herself someone else. Come on, with her looks she could practically whistle and guys would come running. She's got a new guy and what do I have?

It was early Thursday morning and Leonard was just locking the apartment door when he saw penny's door start to open. He had no idea what he would say to her so he made a beeline down the stairs before she saw him. He tried to push the feeling of cowardice aside as he made the first floor and opened the front door.

The cold air outside was just enough to wake Leonard up. He hadn't been sleeping well the last few days so the frequent gusts of fifty degree winds helped. He got into his car and just sat there for a few minutes. Maybe he could just call the university and tell them he wasn't feeling well. No he needed to keep his mind off things. The last thing he needed was to start over analyzing.

It had been about ten hours of...not much. There wasn't a project in the works for the next week and all he did was check emails, do paperwork and check Facebook. He checked Penny's account to see if there were any changes. The only difference was her relationship status."Single." Leonard felt a tiny glimmer inside."She's not dating anyone?" Then the over thinking took over. Maybe she hadn't updated it yet. She could be dating a millionaire for all he knew.

The ringing of his cellphone brought Leonard back to the present. He saw it was sheldon and clicked answer.

"What is it shel.."

"You have to pick me up from the train store."

"Do I now? I thought Raj was your ride for the day?" Leonard asked with an irritable tone. There was a three second pause.

"That is no longer an option."

Leonard leaned back in his desk chair and let out a loud sigh as he switched the phone to the other ear.

"...I'll be there in about twenty minutes."

"Well be quick about it, the man in charge here is making me uncomfortable." Sheldon said quickly.

Leonard thought to himself,"it's probably the other way around."

Leonard pulled his car into one of the parallel parking spots by the train store when he got a text from Howard.

"I'm guessing you got stuck being Sheldon's ride today?"

"Yeah the guy needs to be learn how to drive." Leonard texted back.

Howard responded a few seconds later.

"Hey Raj and I are are going to the Cheesecake Factory tonight for supper...you wanna drive Sheldon to meet us there?"

Leonard's heart felt heavy and he started to feel extremely hot when he saw the message. When he didn't respond for a while Howard sent another message.

"Is that gonna be ok with you? Is it gonna be too uncomfortable?"

Part of him was saying to just go, not to ruin it for everyone. He ignored his weaker side and texted back.

"No it's fine, I'm over it." Leonard text back.

"Psh, hardly," he thought to himself."

"Great. Welll meet you in an hour."

Hitting end on his phone, Leonard put his phone in his coat pocket as he got out of the car and headed to the train store. He opened the door to see Sheldon with his arms crossed and a sour look on his face. "What took you so long?"

"Come on we're meeting Howard and Raj at the Cheesecake Factory in about an hour."Leonard said dodging Sheldon's question.

"Hm...not a very adventurous choice for Anything Can Happen Thursday." Sheldon said as they headed to the car.

Leonard looked at sheldon with a smirk.

"Your one to talk about being adventurous."

"I've been known to be plenty adventurous." Sheldon stated in defense.

Leonard stared at him with a blank face that lasted several seconds.

"Give Me ONE example."

Sheldon thought for a few seconds then held out his index finger.

"Oh! The Guay Tiew Zen Ya rice at the Thai restaurant we get takeout from was recently replaced with the thinner Guay Tiew Zen Mee rice and I embraced it openly." Sheldon said with a smile on his face, now sitting in the passengers seat. Leonard got in and started the car."That's not being adventurous...that's called life."

Sheldon was talking the entire way to the Cheesecake Factory about rice, and Leonard was hearing none of it. "I haven't seen or talked to penny in two days. If she is our waitress...no..of course she will be, that'd be my luck. What could I possibly say to her? As big of an ass as I was about the whole love thing...she most likely wouldn't WANT to talk to me. And if she does want to, I would probably just say something stupid."

"Leonard. Leonard! Leonard! Leonard!"

Leonard pressed the brake to the floor, bringing the car to a screeching halt at a red light.

"You are always saying that I need to learn to drive, yet look at you." Sheldon said with a firm grip on the sides of his seat.

Fifteen minutes of Sheldon's ranting later, they finally got to the Cheesecake Factory. "Leonard you can do this," Leonard told himself as he pulled into the first parking space he could find. As he shut the car off and sheldon got out, Leonard began to feel hot and nervous.

"Sheldon I...I can't do this." Leonard said as his eyes grew wide.

"Of course you can. You've been do g this for three years."

Leonard was startled by Howard popping his head into the drivers side window."Hey there buddy are you sure your ok with this? To be honest I wasn't quite convinced with your answer on the phone."

"Leonard please hurry up because I am very hungry." Sheldon said impatiently.

"Sheldon I'm can't go in. I thought I could, but I wouldn't know what to say to the woman I pushed away." He was nearly in tears.

He darted his gaze at Sheldon."Do NOT tell her I said that."


	10. Chapter 10

**Hope you enjoy this chapter. Read and review. I love reviews :D**

"Oh...ALL RIGHT. You did pick me up from the train store, so I suppose it's only customary that I do this."

"Thank you Sheldon." Leonard wasn't sure if he was referring to him staying in the car or not saying what he told him not to say. He hoped it was both but either way it was nice to see the rare occasion when Sheldon was being unselfish. "Come on Sheldon, we can bring Leonard his order back to him." Howard and Sheldon walked off as Howard looked back and gave Leonard a sympathetic smile. Leonard hadn't noticed as his face was once again buried in his hands.

Though he was more at ease now, Leonard felt like a pathetic coward. "Come on you idiot, man up and go in there." Leonard shook his head at the voice in his head.

"No I can't...I can't. Just seeing her would make me say something stupid. And even if I didn't say anything, there's a good chance Sheldon would say something completely inappropriate and embarrass the hell out of me." At least if he said something dumb now Leonard would be outside.

As he started to feel even worse, tears ran down his face and he broke down. "Oh god...Penny I was such an idiot. I was so stupid to pressure you." Leonard barely made the words out through sobs . He got out of the car and got into the back seat to lay down. The guys would be spending a long time talking so he could use that time to..."rest his mind."

After a few minutes laying down it had begun raining outside. Leonard gave up on sleeping and sat up. All this stress and over thinking had given him a bit of a headache. "God I'm a mess.." He said to himself as the tears returned. Leaning his right arm against the window sill, Leonard covered his tear soaked eyes with his hand as an event at the bowling alley replayed in his head.

"I loooove chili cheese fries."

"Really...you love them?"

"Yeah why?"

"No reason. Just glad to hear your comfortable saying you love something."

Leonard started to cry harder.

"How could I be...how could I be so insensitive? She was everything I ever wanted in a woman and I...had to...be a jackass. Maybe the guy she's with now won't push her t...say she...loves him..." Leonard had become a sobbing mess. At this point he didn't give a rats ass who saw him like this...except for her. Shock set in as he wiped his eyes and looked out the window.

"Oh Damnnn it!" Leonard said as he hung his head down.

"You weren't supposed to see me like this..." God how embarrassing, he must have looked like a little child in time out. He was starting to sweat. What the hell would he do if Penny opened...

He almost passed out when she slowly opened the door and sat down on the seat, leaving a little more than a foot between them. After a few seconds, Leonard got up the nerve to look in Penny's direction. As she looked back at him with what appeared to be an unsure expression, he gazed into those gorgeous eyes he hadn't seen in several days.

"I'm so sorry Penny..I."

"You have nothing to be sorry about." Penny said before he could continue.

Leonard's looked deep into her eyes. What was going on? He had been an ass to her at the bowling alley and she says"he has nothing to be sorry about." His mind was a whirlwind right now.

"I thought that it was the best thing for both of us if I broke things off." She looked passed him.

"All I ended up doing was leaving both of us miserable. But when I ran out of the bowling alley, I reached a point of no return. I couldn't bare to face you the rest of the day, not after breaking up with you infront of everybody. And that night, laying in bed, my mind replayed the events of that day. The biggest thing that bothered me was snapping at you. I was being so selfish."

Leonard could see tears escaping her eyes. He couldn't stand to hear her call herself selfish. He was the one being an ass about the whole love thing. What he couldn't wrap around his thick head back then was that they were at they were in two different places in the relationship.

He made an an attempt to organize his thoughts.

"Penny...when you ran out of the bowling alley, I was devastated."

Was that a bit much? No..it wasn't was it?

"I kept hoping it was a nightmare that I would eventually wake up from. But the next day I received a call from my older brother David. He just wanted to see how I was doing. You know, check in on his little brother. When I mentioned us, it hit me. Like I had said in the laundry room. I was ahead of you in the relationship. I just couldn't understand that you weren't in the same place as I was. I didn't even bother to look at it from your perspective. I ended up being a douche about it and you had no choice but to..."

"Leonard Wheaton was the reason I broke up with you." Penny said cutting him off.

What did Wheaton have to do with anything. He was pretty damn sure Penny wasn't interested in Wheaton so what did.."

"He told me about how he had a girlfriend who was stringing him along after not being able to say she loved him. I couldn't bare to do that to you. Of course I couldn't get it through my thick head that he most likely was making it up to affect the. Outcome of the game."

That bastard. Leonard could feel anger boiling up inside of him. He remembered seeing Wheaton talking to Penny about something while at the bowling alley...but he didn't ..." Well now he knew never to trust that guy. He was starting to get a better understanding of Sheldon's hatred for the guy.

He suddenly noticed Penny scooting close to him til there was barely an inch between them.

"But I let fear get in the way. Fear of getting hurt. Fear of loosing my best friend."

Leonard had forgot after only a few days, just how amazing Penny smelled. He could feel her breathe on him as she closed her eyes and nearly touched her lips to his before speaking in almost a whisper.

"Fear of loosing the sweetest, most caring man I've ever known met.


End file.
